The benchmark indices opened higher on Tuesday with the Nifty50 reclaiming its crucial 10,600-mark as Asian markets hit a three-week high as US borrowing costs eased ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s highly-anticipated first congressional testimony later in the day.

At 9:18 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 34,558, up 112.81 points, while the broader Nifty50 was ruling at 10,615, up 32.60 points.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and the BSE Smallcap indices gained 0.2 per cent each.

Market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, remained positive. On the BSE, 1,030 stocks rallied, 439 stocks declined, while 51 stocks remained unchanged.

Nifty PSU Bank was the leading loser among NSE indices, and slipped over 1 per cent. PNB (down 6 per cent) contributed most to the losses after fresh reports of fraud emerged.

Among gainers, Nifty Auto (up 0.7 per cent) advanced the most, followed by Nifty IT (up 0.5 per cent), Nifty Metal (up 0.4 per cent) and Nifty Media (up 0.3 per cent).

Among individual stocks, YES Bank (up 1.6 per cent), Hero MotoCorp (up 1.2 per cent) and Bharti Airtel (up 1 per cent) were the top gainers on the NSE, while Ambuja Cements, ICICI Bank and Ambuja Cements shed the most, losing up to 3 per cent.

Global markets

Asian shares extended their recovery. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3 per cent, building on its bounce from a two-month low touched on Feb 9.